1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information sharing system, and particularly to a system in which an information processor or the like such as personal computer (PC) and a peripheral or the like such as printer are connected with a relay device to control the peripheral via the relay device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, workstations, PCs and the like have been downsized and reduced in price, and accordingly an environment where one person can exclusively use one PC has become common. Further, the advancement of the network such as LAN (Local Area Network) allows all PCs to be connected with the network so that data can be exchanged between the PCs, for example.
A system that allows PCs to share one screen, and a system that enables information to be shared by holding a desktop conference, TV (television) conference or the like and communicating image and voice for example, in the environment as described above, are being developed as disclosed for example in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 08-088843.
Even if a system enables PCs to share one screen and accordingly share information, for example, generally the system does not cooperate with peripherals such as scanner, projector, and TV conference system. Thus, if such a peripheral is used, it is necessary to independently manipulate the peripheral according to the purpose and status of the peripheral.
In other words, in the system that enables information to be shared, cooperative process with peripherals is not generally performed.